1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a contents display apparatus for displaying one or a plurality of contents, and a control method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, with the advent of large-capacity storage media in addition to the popularization of digital cameras and the improvement of network environments, growing of private contents such as images captured by digital cameras and contents obtained via a network is accelerating. Hence, a technique for browsing huge quantities of contents using a function of sequentially switching and displaying a plurality of images and contents on a screen (slideshow) is known. For example, browse software of digital camera images normally includes a slideshow function. This slideshow function is roughly classified into two types of methods, that is, a method of switching pages every time a specific key is pressed, and a method of automatically switching to the next page after an elapse of a predetermined period of time. Another slideshow function combines these two methods, and fast-forwards and switches pages upon pressing a specific key before an elapse of a predetermined period of time. Also, still another slideshow function displays an operation bar in the middle of a slideshow, and allows the user to make operations such as fast-forwarding, reverse-feeding, and suspending.
This slideshow function is normally used when the user searches for a desired image while browsing images captured by a digital camera. In this case, the user normally makes the following operations. That is, the user suspends a slideshow halfway to carefully view a given image, and then restarts the slideshow, or fast-forwards unwanted images. At this time, the user has to repeat similar user operations such as suspending and fast-forwarding with respect to contents displayed in the slideshow since he or she wants to display a desired image for a longer period of time but ceases to display an undesired image quickly.
In order to reduce such user operations, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-157884 discloses a method which determines if a readout image matches a predetermined search key when an image feed button is pressed, and sets a longer display time period of an image which matches the search key than that which does not match the search key.
As the method of executing a slideshow, a method of executing a slideshow according to the order of a contents list, or a method of randomly executing a slideshow is used.
The aforementioned slideshow function normally has a mechanism which enhances entertainment by adding a display effect that arouses the user interest at the beginning, during, or end of display for respective contents, so as not to be boring to the viewer. As a method of giving the display effect to each content, a method of randomly giving the display effect by leaving it to an application that executes a slideshow, and a method in which the user performs an edit operation in advance to add the display effect suited to each content are available. In this case, the latter method in which the user adds the display effect can add the display effects suited to each individual content, and a better slideshow can be realized.
However, when the user manually adds the display effect, the processes for assigning display effects in a number as large as the number of contents to be displayed in the slideshow need to be executed, thus requiring much labor. As a technique for reducing the load on such processes, the following techniques have been proposed.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-245646 has proposed a technique which has a function of detecting the number, sizes, positions, and the like of persons who appear in each content, and changing a display time of that content in correspondence with the number, sizes, and positions of persons. As a result, for a content that the user wants to view for a longer period of time, the display time can be automatically prolonged.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-157324 has proposed a technique which has a function of extracting related information such as information at the time of image capturing and category information appended to each content, or previous playback frequency information of that content and controls a playback state based on the related information. As a result, that content can be automatically played back in correspondence with the related information.
Furthermore, in a slideshow, when the user decides the display order of contents, he or she can build a slideshow according to his or her preference. However, in order to execute such slideshow, the user has to select favorite contents in advance and set their display order, resulting in troublesome operations. To solve this problem, the following techniques have been proposed.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-039359 has proposed a technique that searches for images related to those displayed in a slideshow, and displays a list of images related to the displayed images after the slideshow to facilitate selection of favorite contents. However, with the method of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-039359, the user has to finally select related images from the list, resulting in troublesome operations.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-341510 discloses a technique that allows the user to switch to display an image related to the displayed image by operating a remote controller. However, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-341510, the user has to consequently select images, resulting in cumbersome operations.
However, with the method proposed by Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-157884, a search key used to prolong the display time needs to be set before the beginning of a slideshow. For this reason, display of the next and subsequent slides cannot be changed by reflecting the user interactive operation during a slideshow.
Furthermore, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-245646, the display times of respective contents are changed in accordance with the number, sizes, and positions of persons who appear in the contents. However, these conditions (the number, sizes, and positions of persons) that decide the display time are set in advance, and display that the user wants is not always executed. When similar group photos continuously appear, long display times are unwantedly set even for similar contents, and the user gets tired of them.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-157324 controls the playback state in correspondence with arbitrary related information corresponding to contents, and appropriate related information needs to be prepared for each content so as to execute appropriate playback that the user wants. When playback frequency information or the like is used, the user has to repeat playback. If the user makes an inappropriate operation at that time, appropriate playback using operation frequencies is no longer executed. Furthermore, when a plurality of users execute playback, the playback frequency information is not effective for a specific user.
In the methods of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-039359 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-341510, which build a slideshow suited to user's preference by deciding the execution order of the slideshow, the user has to select favorite contents in advance so as to execute a slideshow according to his or her preference.